Cyprus – escYOUnitedhttp://escunited.com
Big Fan Community for the Eurovision Song ContestFri, 21 Jul 2017 21:44:52 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.1Our Annual big competition is here – Win a goody bag with various Promotional CD’s and Eurovision Materialhttp://escunited.com/2017/05/13/our-annual-big-competition-is-here-win-a-goody-bag-with-various-promotional-cds-and-eurovision-material/
http://escunited.com/2017/05/13/our-annual-big-competition-is-here-win-a-goody-bag-with-various-promotional-cds-and-eurovision-material/#commentsSat, 13 May 2017 22:50:47 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=30193Portugal won this year’s competition. To continue with this celebration, we have 2 goodie bags full of promotional material. The picture in this article reflects a sample of such goody bags. You can win various promotional CD’s from various countries which include Austria, Switzerland, San Marino, Czech Republic, Montenegro & Cyprus. All you have to do is very very simple;

Step 1) Answer the following questions about this year’s Eurovision Song Contest:

In which city the contest will be held?

Name the 10 countries who qualified from Semi-Final 1

In which year did Kyiv last host the contest?

What was the name of Ukraine’s winning song last year?

In which year did Ukraine debut in Eurovision?

Step 2) Send us your answers to this competition to our special email address competition@escunited.com – together with your name, surname, address & postal code, mobile number. Make sure that you have also liked our official Facebook page.

Panic stations everyone – it’s finally that time of the year! Tonight is officially the first live show of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 live from the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine!

18 countries will perform live on television across Europe and worldwide in the hopes to secure one of ten golden tickets for Saturday’s grand final, and we can assure you we’re in for a great show tonight!

Here are the 18 participants in tonight’s semi-final;

?? SWEDEN – Robin Bengtsson – I Can’t Go On

?? GEORGIA – Tamara Gachechiladze – Keep The Faith

?? AUSTRALIA – Isaiah – Don’t Come Easy

?? ALBANIA – Lindita – World

?? BELGIUM – Blanche – City Lights

?? MONTENEGRO – Slavko Kalezić – Space

?? FINLAND – Norma John – Blackbird

?? AZERBAIJAN – Dihaj – Skeletons

?? PORTUGAL – Salvador Sobral – Amar pelos dois

?? GREECE – Demy – This Is Love

?? POLAND – Kasia Moś – Flashlight

?? MOLDOVA – Sunstroke Project – Hey Mamma!

?? ICELAND – Svala – Paper

?? CZECH REPUBLIC – Martina Bárta – My Turn

?? CYPRUS – Hovig – Gravity

?? ARMENIA – Artsvik – Fly With Me

?? SLOVENIA – Omar Naber – On My Way

?? LATVIA – Triana Park – Line

There will also be clips of three performances from the Big 5 who are prequalifiers to the final; Spain, United Kingdom and hot favourite Italy.

The show begins at 21:00 CET (22:00 EET) and will last roughly two hours.

We will be live from the press centre for the final dress rehearsal at 16:00 CET and will be around after the show for reactions and coverage of the winners’ press conferences, so make sure #YOU stay tuned to #escYOUnited for all of the latest updates from Kyiv!

Who are #YOU rooting for tonight? Let us know on social media and our forum!

]]>Cyprus: Hovig “It was a very nice present for me.”http://escunited.com/2017/05/07/cyprus-hovig-it-was-a-very-nice-present-for-me/
Sun, 07 May 2017 07:46:04 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=30041

We had interview with Hovig from Cyprus. We talked about the song’s choice process and the elections of this year. Hope you all like it!

#YOU can check out the intriguing interview below;

Who do #YOU want to see us interview next? Send us your questions and we’ll try to ask the artists!

]]>Cyprus will return to a national final in 2018http://escunited.com/2017/05/06/cyprus-will-return-to-a-national-final-in-2018/
Sat, 06 May 2017 09:24:56 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=29997

As the contest in Kyiv rumbles on, news has started to trickle in regarding next year’s contest in an as-yet unknown location. Cyprus has now confirmed their participation in next year’s contest and has confirmed that they will return to a national selection show for the first time since their return in 2015.

The Eurovision Song Project helped to pick Cyprus’ returning entry for Vienna, with Giannis Karagiannis’ “One Thing I Should Have Done” winning the final of the lengthy procedure. Interestingly, both Minus One (2016) and Hovig (2017) reached the final of that edition, finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.

The news was confirmed in Hovig’s press conference earlier this week.

It is currently unclear what format of selection Cyprus will use but we imagine it will be similar to the Eurovision Song Project from 2015.

Who would #YOU like to see sing for Cyprus in 2018? Share your thoughts with us!

]]>Poll: Who will qualify from Semi-Final 1?http://escunited.com/2017/05/05/poll-who-will-qualify-from-semi-final-1/
Fri, 05 May 2017 13:29:15 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=29959We’ve seen and heard the rehearsals for all countries in the first semi-final, teaser clips have been released and full videos of the performances are now available. So it’s the perfect time to ask the all-important question – which songs will qualify from the first semi-final?

We’ve created a poll with all 18 participants in the semi-final and you can pick ten of these songs as qualifiers. Which ten do #YOU think will qualify for the Eurovision 2017 grand final next weekend? Will there be any surprises? It’s time to pick!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Make sure to check back with #escYOUnited as we bring you further coverage of the contest, as well as the results of the poll and our personal predictions!

]]>Which rehearsal is the most promising? Day 2http://escunited.com/2017/05/01/which-rehearsal-is-the-most-promising-day-2/
Mon, 01 May 2017 15:36:32 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=29728

Day two has arrived, and it’s brought us everything! Naked topless dancers splashing in water, glow in the dark raving, falling through space and much more. Semi-Final 1 has certainly got a lot of interesting performances!

Of course, for those of you not in the press centre, we can only convey so much of the madness to you, alongside the other press, eurovision.tv and the YouTube videos. But from first impressions, it seems a lot of people have strong opinions!

So we thought we would ask #YOU – which of the acts on day one seem to have impressed you the most?

Vote in the poll below and we will reveal the result during our live stream tomorrow!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
]]>Hovig (Cyprus) Interview: “I’m Happy to be part of the Eurovision Family”http://escunited.com/2017/04/11/hovig-cyprus-interview-im-happy-to-be-part-of-the-eurovision-family/
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 16:49:00 +0000http://escunited.com/?p=29123

We recently had a chance to meet Hovig, who is going to represent Cyprus at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine this May. We talked to him about his entry “Gravity” and working with Eurovision Legend Thomas G:Son and preparing for his big performance at the contest.

The singer also shared with us what title he’d use to describe his life and what he’s trying to get of the Eurovision experience.

Watch the Full Interview below:

Cyprus is going to take part in the first Semi Final hoping to win over the fans and ultimately qualify for the Grand Final. You can support the act by purchasing his song RIGHT HERE.

Don’t forget that the official album will be out soon, click below to pre-order it today.

The ESC United “Expert” Panel is back. The Editorial team got to enjoy all 43 entries of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, review and rank them accordingly. Needless to say, this is all subjective and you may totally disagree with us. There is a reason we put quotation marks down. Which is why we included a poll and in the end we’ll compare the reader’s results to our results. So check out our comments first and the scroll down to vote in the poll. Let’s get rollin’!

Cyprus: Hovig-Gravity

David – 10 Points
Thomas G:son has done it, once again! This song caught me from the first time, and Hovig is without a doubt, a great singer for this song. I was into this one from the very start, and still it just grows and grows. The beat is just on point for me, the lyrics are easy to remember and you can easily sing along on this one. I personally have a hard time, not singing along with this one.
I’m sure many will probably think I’m insane, for saying this, but I think it’s way better than “Euphoria”.

Stefan – 9 Points
After that brake in 2014, Cyprus has pulled it together and is giving us amazing songs. Big round of applause to Hovig and the team for Gravity. I want to be blown away with his performance

Romeo – 9 Points
This is a modern song, I like it. I think it will do well. It reminds me of Loic Nottet. This will be in the final, I have no doubt about that. Its just a matter of where it will place. I have to say this is one of my favourites. Its a great song, its modern and he will perform it well!

Ferdi – 8 Points
A hip and modern pop song. The instrumental with “claps” in the background catches me from the first second on and it never let’s me go. The chorus is immensely catchy and I can’t stop humming this! I quite like his vocals, too.

Matt – 8 Points
I’m getting a “Rhythm Inside” vibe. With the proper Staging, this has the potential to become one of Cyprus’ best results to date. It captures your attention from the first second and forces you to pay attention. The versue are just as strong as the chorus with an effective bridge. It’s not without its flaws though and I’m referring to the lyrics. Too much rhyming for the sake of rhyming: your company, lean on me, falling free, gravity. I could have done without that to be honest. But overall I’m a happy camper

Zack – 8 Points
Really strong production that to me has the markings of Thomas G:Son, including bits of ethnic flare and quick instrumental breaks that allow the listener to take in the song. The comparisons to Rag’n’Bone Man’s “Human” is mostly due to the chain-gang backbeat, but this song is a beast on its own.

Sean – 7 Points
It took a while to grow on me, but I’m certainly glad it did! It was quite a surprise to see Hovig’s go for such an entry but aside from a slightly prominent accent, this is another strong entry from Cyprus. It’s slick, infuriatingly catchy and musically interesting, although I’d love a bit more synth. Dare I say it, it could be the strongest Cypriot entry in years!

Gerry – 6 Points
This song grows on me the more I listen to it. It’s pretty catchy. The composition is rather plain, but Thomas G:son is a master at producing tunes that stay in the listener’s mind. Gravity’s got that modern sound, with a beat to bop along to. While the lyrics don’t really say anything and the music doesn’t hit any particular emotions, Hovig is a very capable singer. With the right staging, I could definitely see Cyprus on the list of qualifiers from the bloodbath that is the first semifinal.

Robert – 5 Points
I’ll admit it from the off; the music is really not my kind of thing, but I have to concede that I find myself getting into the beat during the song. The chorus opens well with the brief pause before it bursts into the vocals, but it soon gets all a bit repetitive. The lyrics are somewhat inane as well with dodgy English “no matter where you be” or “You be gravity”. I fear it’s one of those songs which will just disappear into the background for the die-hard fans, then we’ll all wonder how it qualifies come the show because it does make a decent impact on the first few listens. A decent example of its genre musically (but then I’m not a fan of the genre full stop!), but lyrically it falls down for me.

Nenad – 4 Points
Let me be your Gravity’ This part of lyrics describes the cheapness of the whole song. I just can imagine a performer meeting a composer in a studio in Stockolm and G:Son offers to Hovig a Melodifestivalen entry from 2011 that failed to even reach a qualification round of Sweden’s favourite fest and sell it for maybe 10000 euros! Poor. The song is written in a way that circumvents a performer to give it’s best, but follows a same musical note the whole song. On the other hand, Hovig is a great performer and sells this song well. We must admit that he deserves a better song!

Calvin – 2 Points
There’s something quite plodding about this song. It’s probably the massive percussion that takes over the verses. Once the chorus comes, things pick up, but he doesn’t quite have the support in his vocal for the higher sections, and the voice becomes a whine, which doesn’t help pull off the message in the lyrics that he’ll protect his partner. Also, since the song starts in such a loud place, there isn’t room to build the song from its first verse, so the energy subsides. In a lower key and with a sparser verse at the start, this song surely had potential. As is, it’s difficult to get through.

Final Score: 77

Now it’s your turn, vote in the poll and let us know how you ranked it. You can comment here or join thousands of Eurovision fans and comment on our Forum HERE.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

This is the current ranking of the Panel, you can see all Reviews by clicking HERE.

Tonight it is expected that the official launch of Gravity, which will be representing Cyprus for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Hovig will be singing this song was chosen internally by the broadcaster in Cyprus, CYBC.

This song is written by song written by Thomas G:Son while Haris Savva will be in charge of the staging. Thomas G:Son was behind various popular Eurovision entries, and also wrote Eurphoria which won the contest in 2012.

You can also watch Hovig’s music video in this link:

What do you think of the Cypriot Entry? We’d like to hear your thoughts, just click HEREto chat with thousands of Eurovision fans from around the world.